Hi, my name is Megan McNew. I am a senior at Western Washington, majoring in Business Adminstration Marketing. I will be graduating in June of this year. The reason for taking this Digital Marketing class is because the digital world is an important and growing aspect in the business world. My generation and the generations after me grew up with this advanced technology and it has become our lifestyle. Therefore, as we enter the working world it is become more and more useful. In taking this class, I hope to learn about the connection between the digital world and marketing; learning effective ways to utilize and interpret marketing on the Internet.

As a college undergraduate, I found that the most intriguing aspect from the article Knowledge and Skill Requirements for Marketing Jobs in the 21st Century is the importance of the education we receive. It is the responsibility of the university and the professors to provide us with adequate, updated information and skills in order for us to obtain the technical and conceptual knowledge required for a marketing job. What is the point in earning a marketing degree if we are not learning the right skills? Although when searching on Google to why a college degree is important, I found an interesting article: The Importance of a College Degree: The Latest Findings. It seems that it is not about the degree type earned, it is about what the college degree represents. It shows the determination and dedication of that person, and their ability to learn new things. The article states that “College should never be simply about accumulating facts or data or just getting the credential. College should always be about learning how to learn for a lifetime.” Is this applicable to marketing degrees in the business world though? I think that to a point, yes it is true! For someone to commit to going to college for four or so years shows a great deal about their character. After I graduate, I may not be able to remember every little detail that I learned in my marketing classes, but I will at least have some level of understanding and some general knowledge of marketing. From my experience at a university, I should be able to take on and quickly learn what is given to me at an entry level job.

In the article, US Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2001 To 2016, it shows that Interactive Marketing will increase in the coming years. I believe that Forrester’s forecast will be accurate because as the Internet world becomes more popular, Interactive Marketing will become more useful.

Since the article Technology Giants at War: Another Game of Thrones was published, the four big companies (Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook) have continued to grow in 2013. Facebook added two search features, Graph Search and “hashtags”, to their site in order to compete with Google’s search engine. Facebook has also made it possible to post videos on Instagram to compete with other apps such as Vine. Google has created Google Play Music All Access to compete with Apple’s iTunes. Google has also made their search engine available on the iOS systems (Apple’s mobile operating system). Amazon and Apple have both acquired companies in 2013, expanding their own company. Amazon acquired TenMarks Education Inc., while Apple has acquired the following companies:

Silicon Valley, WiFi Slam

Locationary Inc.

Hopstop.com Inc.

AlgoTrim AB

PrimeSense Ltd.

Topsy Labs Inc.

In my opinion, I do not believe that Facebook should be included in the “big four.” Facebook is a growing company, but it is still mainly a social media site. Compared to the other three it is very low in its market value and revenue.

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